MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Reliable Robotics, an aircraft automation systems company in Mountain View, California, announced that it has received military airworthiness approval to begin flight testing and operational missions of its remotely piloted Cessna 208 Caravan for the U.S. Air Force. This approval with the Department of Defense (DOD) enables Reliable to demonstrate dual-use automated flight capabilities for military use cases, including cargo missions.
DoD airworthiness policies require all aircraft and air systems owned, leased, operated, used, designed, or modified for Air Force applications to complete an airworthiness assessment by Air Force standards. To meet these requirements, Reliable completed a comprehensive safety analysis, maintenance and operational evaluations, and testing of the automated flight technologies. This airworthiness achievement was a milestone of Reliable’s Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.
The Reliable autonomous flight system enables the aircraft to be remotely operated by a pilot on the ground. The company says this improves safety by fully automating the aircraft through all phases of operation including taxi, takeoff, and landing. Reliable’s system is aircraft agnostic and utilizes multiple layers of redundancy and advanced navigation technology to achieve the levels of integrity and reliability necessary for uncrewed flight. The system will prevent controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and loss of control in flight (LOC-I), which account for most fatal aviation accidents.
The Cessna Caravan is designed and manufactured by Textron Aviation Inc. Reliable Robotics has been collaborating with Textron Aviation, which includes the Beechcraft, Cessna, and Hawker brands.
The Caravan, and other regional cargo aircraft like it, serve an essential role connecting communities and businesses across the United States and around the globe. With a useful load of over 3,000 pounds, and a take-off performance to operate from shorter runways, these aircraft deliver time-sensitive shipments to many places that would otherwise not have next-day or same-day service. Remote piloting will allow even more areas to benefit from this critical service.
“Our AFWERX partners are developing exciting automation technologies through robust engineering and flight test campaigns,” said Hank “Hog” Griffiths, AFWERX Airworthiness and Test Lead. “The technology is maturing rapidly and this airworthiness approval for a certified aircraft retrofitted with an autonomous flight system provides significant opportunities for the military.”
Reliable’s collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and AFWERX began in 2021 and includes SBIR awards, as well as a large aircraft automation study. In 2023, Reliable demonstrated automated flight for military personnel as part of the Golden Phoenix exercise at Travis Air Force Base in California.
